Dream Come True
by Evaden
Summary: I was thinking, overthinking, about the things I'd held on to: if you're my dream, please come true...SHr [Set three years after tHBP]
1. Chapter 1

SIRIUS 

You know that dream where you're holding someone, then they simply disappear?

That's how it was for me. My whole life, everything. It was when I realized that I'd reached forty, and I was still running. Sometimes it takes a shattering event to make you realize what you have and what you don't, what you had and what you lost. I never thought that it would take the War of the Wizards to wake me up.

I was hiding in a hole in the ground that night, silently; waiting by myself for fear of discovery. I remember I had carved a makeshift birthday cake for myself in the dirt wall of my hiding place. There were too many candles to fit on the top. And even then did I not know quite what I was missing.

There were people moving in the forest on the ground above my head, their footsteps muffled by the thick layer of earth. They were my enemies, so I stayed quiet - and hidden. If I dared to move at all, it would mean my certain death. Hopefully, they did not know that I was there, surely because if they had then I would not have lived to tell it.

It had only been a year since Voldemort had regained full power. The Deatheaters had scattered the Ministry and broken into Azkaban, freeing the remaining few who survived and claiming them for their lord. At all hours, Voldemort's minions roamed unchecked. There were battles in the streets, bloody battles; and many deaths on both sides. It was like the end of the world.

And I was hiding.

Not because I was cowardly. I would rather die than be called a coward; no, I had a mission. Days ago I had received a letter from the Order, summoning me back to the house of my mother for a meeting of sorts. Apparently my rogue godson Harry had acheived ordination as an Auror, and would be joining the Order Counsel officially for the first time. He was only nineteen.

I had to be there, to see him. To see everyone, and to know that they were safe. My heart trembled for them rather than for myself. I had been a fugitive all of my life, and 'disappearing' was second nature to me, but most of those in the Order had no experience of the sort. It would be a relief for me to stand with them and put my anxiety to rest that they all were there. Already, many of our set had suffered.

I had heard through a source that Harry's friend, Hermione, was doing spywork for the Order, and that she was spectacularly good at it. Already she had tracked down and had captured several Deatheaters through her work. That news had made me smile. I had told her before - if I can remember correctly - in her third year at school, after she and Harry had saved me from The Dementor's Kiss ... that she was the brightest witch of her age.

My mind lifted merely by thinking of them all. I longed to see them.

The footsteps around me had died. I moved silently to the entrance of my cave, hidden from view by an overgrowth of ivy and nettles, and the steely midnight blue light that flooded in told me that it was nightfall.

From what I could tell, there was no one around.

I crawled back into my cave and huddled up next to one of its sodden walls. Soon it would be time to leave. I would make the trek back to Grimmauld Place on foot, making my journey under cover of darkness to avoid the Deatheaters' notice. There would be no moon tonight, making tonight perfect for travel.

But for now, I would wait.

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A/N: Yes; I am (sort of) bearing in mind the plotline of The Half-Blood Prince. The 2nd chapter will be more meaty, I promise.


	2. Hermione

--Sirius

By the time I reached Grimmauld Place, the entire Order - or what was left of it - had already gathered there. I fancied that they were waiting for me.

Animal instincts compelled me to check the street in both directions before entering myself. Determining that the coast was clear, I bounded inside the house that I loathed so much that was now on a rare occasion made inviting by the presence of my friends.

"Sirius!" I heard Molly Weasley call cheerily as she came bustling out of the kitchen bearing a dish towel and a mixing spoon and followed closely by an extensive checklist that hovered dangerously close to her right ear. "So nice of you to join us! Oh, give us a rest...!" she swatted irritably at the parchment behind her head before heading towards me in the hall.

I felt myself become human, literally and even figuratively.

"Won't you come into the kitchen dear, and have a bite to eat. You look starved," she said, scanning me up and down in that motherly way she had that always seemed to make me feel both at home and completely slothful about myself all at once. "Of course," I answered gratefully, and even I could hear the grin in my voice as I said it.

"I'll tell the rest of the bunch that you're here," Molly assurred me warmly. "They're all dying to see you, Harry especially..."

I thanked her , trying to avoid her coincidental use of words, and as she hurried off I took the opportunity to step into the warm kitchen to my left that beckoned to me so invitingly. I could not help but crave the heat after so many weeks spent in ditches and holes that I'd lost count and my body had seemed to become permanently chilled.

I had not expected to find the kitchen already occupied.

There she was, standing there.

When I remember that first meeting, us two alone there in the kitchen, the only honest shock I recall having received was that of sheer recognition after a four year hiatus. But it is an amazing thing, time is. My appreciation for Hermione Granger began at that moment.

Now, I think she is the most beautiful woman in the world.

--Hermione

I was standing in the kitchen, supervising the stove for Molly, when I heard the door creak open behind me. I turned to see who it was and I saw a memory.

"Sirius..." I heard myself say. He stopped still. There was an awkward pause, so I grasped for more words. "I - um; it's good to see you again." It sounded so cold.

I extended my hand for him to shake. As glad as I was to see him, it all seemed so odd. Especially after four years. It was only three months ago that he had reappeared, seemingly out of nowhere. Harry, naturally, had believed it in an instant - a mere inclination, I believe, on his part, because he missed him so. Sightings and other vague reports of him had gradually reached the ears of the Order, but even then we had been far too realistic to believe them. Word came, then, that Sirius had turned up in front of Harry's house (the little flat in London, not Grimmauld; the one Harry took up for no reason but to have his own place I believe), and then we were all obliged to see the truth in all the rumors. It had almsot been far too strange to believe for me; the last time I had seen Sirius Black was when he was falling behind the Veil of Death...

He took my hand firmly and I gasped a little, in spite of myself, as if fearing that he was not real. But a good strong, and all-too-human hand met mine and shook it too. It all became true then, even to me.

Sirius Black had indeed returned.

I just stood there, stupidly, for what seemed like years until my mind willed my body into motion. "Sirius!" I said happily. Wrenching my hand from his I threw my arms around his neck and hugged him so tightly that I feared I had cut off the circulation to his head.

"I'm so glad you're back," I whispered against his neck.

It seemed a foolish thing to say, but for a very unconscious reason...I meant it.


End file.
